Action Alerts

Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre faces eviction from Tam Dao National Park, following an aggressive campaign by the park director, Do Dinh Tien.
On Friday 5 October, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) informed Animals Asia that the Ministry of Defence has issued an order to evict the sanctuary operation and its 104 rescued bears. This follows Mr Tien lobbying the Ministry of Defence to declare the sanctuary to be an area of “national defence significance”.
Mr Tien has been pressuring Animals Asia to relinquish the land since April 2011. It is believed that he intends to hand it over to the Truong Giang Tam Dao Joint Stock Company, in which his daughter has an investment. This company has submitted an application for development of an “eco-tourism park” and hotels on the site.

The closure of the rescue centre would have a severe impact:
104 bears, rescued from Vietnam bear bile farms and smugglers – evicted
77 local Vietnamese staff – unemployed
US$2 million – investment in building and development by Animals Asia – lost
The local economy that depends on the centre would also be severely impacted, and the Vietnamese government’s commitment to ending bear bile farming would be called into question.

Tuan Bendixsen, Vietnam Director, Animals Asia commented: Animals Asia is calling on the public in Vietnam and worldwide to appeal to the Prime Minister to allow the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre that he previously approved and endorsed to continue operations and expand in line with the government’s original agreement.

Don’t Let the Fur Industry Use a Fake Name for Raccoon Dog
Raccoon dogs (a member of the Canidae (dog) family with a superficial resemblance to raccoons) have been documented to be skinned alive in China for their fur, and many consumers want to avoid supporting this cruelty and know which retailers and designers still are. But the Federal Trade Commission is proposing that raccoon dog fur be called the misleading and inaccurate “Asiatic raccoon” — making it hard for consumers and retailers to know that this is the same animal whose mistreatment is so well documented.

TAKE ACTIONPlease fill in and submit this form to automatically send a message to the Federal Trade Commission, asking them to require raccoon dog to be called “raccoon dog” on fur labels and not the inaccurate and misleading trade name “Asiatic raccoon.” Be sure to edit your message so it stands out.

Help Animals Imprisoned by SeaWorld
Tell The Blackstone Group—the company that owns SeaWorld—to immediately set in place a firm and rapid plan to release the animals to sanctuaries that can provide them with a more natural environment.
Contact:

Talking Points:
SeaWorld parks have a long history of housing incompatible orcas from widely divergent groups together in enclosures—and the result has been stress, agitation, aggressive and bloody raking, serious injury, and death.
In aquariums, dolphins and other sea animals routinely die prematurely from stress and other captivity-related causes, and SeaWorld has an abysmal record.
SeaWorld continues to turn a blind eye to the safety of humans and animals alike despite numerous tragedies—including the deaths of many orcas and the death of a trainer who was seized by a frustrated orca, thrown against the walls of the tank, and held under water to drown.
The intelligent, social ocean animals kept in the pitifully small tanks at SeaWorld are denied everything that is natural and important to them. In the wild, dolphins swim up to 100 miles a day in the open ocean, but captive dolphins are confined to small tanks in which the reverberations from their sonar bounce off the walls, driving them insane. Some of these animals were violently captured and torn away from their homes in the wild, and many are forced to learn and perform circus-style tricks. According to whistleblower tips from trainers, withholding food and isolating animals who refuse to perform are common training methods.